Individual Development Plans

It is important to keep your goals on paper and ready for review and adjustment. I present to you, my humble individual development plan as I step into a new roll as small business owner.
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Individual Development Plan

Name – Tyler Matney
Title – Business Owner
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Competencies – The strengths I will be bringing to the table are abundant but I am humble and fully aware that I will need to development and improve on every front including this list of the top three that will aid in my success.

1.      Empathy and passion – I am fully aware of the fact that I will be holding the financial welfare of my employees in my care. I have always strived to aid others in their personal development. I became a professional trainer for this reason above all others. In this role I will be working with my team to not only grow this business, but allow them to grow with it.

2.      Broad vision and planning – I am a planner, and I enjoy looking far into the future when making present day decisions.

3.      Customer Centric – I love to please, and in the face of customers who keep my business running I will offer them a level of customer service they have never experienced.

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Weaknesses and Areas for Improvement – I continually work on all aspects of my professional skills, but these will be especially important.

1.      Money Management – I will be running on a “shoe string” budget for the first year. I will need to keep very close tabs on any and all unnecessary spending. I am one to attempt to implement technology solutions whenever possible, but for the first year I will need to exhibit patience and discipline to make sure the working capital is always available and not being used prematurely.

2.      Patience – I already know in this business I will be working with employees that are often lacking ambition. I am such an ambitious person that this can be a point of frustration. I am confident I can use my empathy to overcome this, but I know my patience will be tested regularly.

3.      Controlled Growth – I have such massive ambitions to grow this business that I need to be careful to not create a lack of resources to support the sales.

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Business and Development Goals – I have combined these two, so I can maintain a clear path for both myself and the business.

Long-Term – The long term goal is to build a business through careful planning, patient execution and world class customer service to the point that the business can be sold for at least $1M.

Short-Term – The short term goal is to get the business to a profitability level that allows for the onboarding of an operations manager. This key position will free me up to grow the business through sales and marketing and not be bogged down with operations.

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Next Assignment – The first goal is to gain the confidence of the current staff and grow the business to the point that they are working full time. I am aware of their concerns over the lack of business, and keeping them busy with full time work is paramount to their commitment to the business.

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Training and Development Needs – I will be networking with other small business owners that I already know to learn the best habits to success. I will also be consulting with a small business advisor, other franchise owners, accountant and previous owner of the business I am buying to make sure that changes I am implementing are getting the correct responses and the business is gaining traction. 

Technology. When, what and why?

You don't have to look far to see technology is (has) taken over our society. Being in the classroom, or any educational environment in general is no escape. We have technology all around us, and in many cases it is an incredibly valuable learning tool. However, it is the responsibility of the educator to make sure that when technology is being deployed as an educational resource that it is done-so with the correct reasoning. To often, you will find instances where technology is being used because it's the "cool" thing to do. It do not always aid the learning process. If it's not helping, why do it? 

With all of the technology that is out there, I am going to whittle it down to a handful that I find most fascinating and hopefully we can decide when these tools are appropriate and when you might just be showing off. 

I have had several spirited debates over the past few years on the application of social media in the classroom. I will stand by my opinion that it doesn't bring anything to the table, that can't be accomplished through more controllable avenues. So, what I just said there, is that I think social media is far to lawless for use in a learning context. There are several exceptions to this, but they are a diviation from what I consider to be the true social media. When I say social media, I mean FaceBook, Twitter, Instagram, Dig and MySpace (is that still around?). In most teaching circles, anything on the web is lumped into social media like blogs, and wikis (Noe, 2011). Blogs and wikis are another problem I see as well, hence the reason you don't quote them in APA scholarly papers. Back to social media. Facebook is the primary culprit here. I have heard of classrooms using facebook as means of bringing the class together, and I personally don't see the point. It is an open opportunity for off topic exchanges, and it's extra work than simple emailing. Don't get me wrong, I love facebook. I'm on it about every 20 minutes all day...with my friends and family, not for school work. It's a social site, not a scholarly site, not a classroom aid, not a learning tool. 

The area that I am most excited about, but have seen the good and bad, is elearning. I have personally helped deploy two LMS programs, and I am a big fan. The potential is HUGE, but it needs to be kept within reason and is no excuse for not going through the proper steps of developing meaningful curriculum. I have recently seen a company head down a slippery slope. They took what was once a classroom class, and simply turned it into an LMS course. This has created an animosity for the LMS before they have even had a chance to try and teach something new. This is a good example of why it is so important to make sure that learning going through an LMS is done with intent, and the reasons are logical. The most logical reason I have experienced for an LMS, is ease of access, geographical distance, record keeping, and something more entertaining than listening to a lecture. Outside of those reasons, I believe we should really be evaluating why we are going the route of an LMS versus some other medium for content delivery. 

Noe brings up an interesting topic in the use of podcasts for learning. This is a good alternative to those situations where an LMS might be overkill. Podcasts still allow for quick, easy delivery of content. It also allows for the learning to listen to the content, when and where they want. The only down side is not being able to discuss the topic, it's just a sit and listen environment. However, with that hangup I believe the benefits far outweigh the downside. www.LearningTimes.com (2014) has a great article about the benefits of podcasts. I listed a couple, but they add portability, and affordability...both value adds to this concept. 

One step up in interaction, and in cost is going to a webcast or live webinar. I have much experience with webinars and they are a great tool. Perfect for sharing a power point and allowing discussion or if the group is to large for discussion, you can simply unlock the chat feature of a webinar site, and take questions via the chat feature. I conducted weekly sales training webinars for years, and always enjoyed the convenience. With websites like webex and gotomeeting.com, the cost is free of close to it depending on the features you  want. 

There are many options out there for using technology. Always make sure you are doing it for the benefit of the learner. If the technology is going to hinder learning, than head back to the drawing board. 

Resources

Noe, R. A. (2013). Employee training and development (6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

www.LearningTimes.com. Unknown author. Article retrieved from: http://www.learningtimes.com/what-we-do/podcast-production/benefits/